- Korean won-backed KRW1 is expanding globally as it integrates with Rain’s stablecoin card payment infrastructure.
A full year after its introduction, South Korea’s first won-backed stablecoin, KRW1, is expanding its reach globally. Rain, a stablecoin payments platform, is facilitating its big move using Avalanche (AVAX).
KRW1 Integration in Rain’s Stablecoin Card Payment Network
On Tuesday, Avalanche announced that Rain is integrating KRW1 into its global payments infrastructure. It allows businesses to launch won-denominated stablecoin-payment cards, which holders can use to transact with more than 175 million Visa-supported merchants globally.
Avalanche highlighted that the Korean won represents nearly $3 trillion in broad money. However, its circulation has largely been limited to Korea’s borders.
The KRW1’s expansion with Rain essentially unlocks a massive, untapped market by eliminating the foreign exchange friction Korean travelers and businesses typically face when making cross-border payments and remittances. As a Visa principal member, Rain enables cardholders to spend KRW1 directly from digital wallets, offering instant on-chain conversions into local fiat currencies at point-of-sale (POS) terminals worldwide.
Meanwhile, Avalanche’s deep liquidity and high-throughput network ensure near-instant settlements and ultra-low fees compared to traditional systems.
Key Features of the KRW1 Stablecoin
The KRW1 stablecoin is a tokenized version of the Korean won. It’s pegged 1:1 to its underlying asset, with 100% physical backing from reserves held in escrow by Woori Bank, a multinational commercial bank headquartered in Seoul.
The Busan Digital Asset Custody Services (BDACS) serves as both the asset’s issuer and regulated custodian. On the other hand, Woori Bank handles the token’s fiat reserve side, providing dedicated escrow accounts and real-time API integrations that support instant proof-of-reserves tracking.
BDACs is the first Busan company and first virtual asset service provider (VASP) to receive a license since the Korean government’s implementation of the Virtual Asset User Protection Act. Its issuance of KRW1 fully complies with South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). To date, the institution has risen as the largest digital asset custodian in South Korea.
KRW1 Using LayerZero’s OFT Standard for Interoperability
Earlier this month, BDACS chose LayerZero’s Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) standard as KRW1’s interoperability solution. It extends the stablecoin’s support beyond Ethereum (ETH), Avalanche, and Circle’s Arc.
“The value of a Korean won stablecoin lies in its global scalability,” said Harry Ryoo, CEO of BDACS, during an earlier statement with LayerZero. “KRW1, the leading Korean won stablecoin, has established a technical foundation to expand beyond Korea into global markets by enabling more flexible use across multiple blockchains through the application of OFT. Building on this technical foundation, we will continue to expand the scope of KRW1’s use going forward.”
